Day 3-ish: Wait, what day is it again?

Day Three-ish still…I think it might count as Day Four though Jan 16 into Jan 17


Got in to Chennai around 3:30-4am. A quiet, uneventful flight. Mark and I both did some work for the coaches clinic but I ended sleeping more in between trying to figure out exactly what the Indian movie that was on the plane was all about. After we landed and got through customs, we met Martin outside of the airport, got to the car and then the fun began. I have never seen so many people outside of an airport with no cars. Most airports have a bustling array of taxis, buses, rental car shuttles, limos etc. but not here. Just throngs of people 4-5 deep. And that’s just in front of the terminal. Around the corner where cars are parked there were more people lined up with airport carts that one would usually see in the airport to help them with their bags. But the people just looked they were waiting, not sure what for. As we got to the road, we just raced along, I don’t think we stopped more than 4-5 times and it was more of a slow down. It makes thr California rolling stops look somewhat legal. Everyone on the road is out for themselves, you pass someone by honking, they fly through intersections after honking and the one main rule I picked up on is if you’re in a car and going fast, you usually have the right of way. And honking is VERY common as a means of saying I’m passing you or get out of the way, not a conveyance of anger. It reminds me of when Monty Burns from The Simpsons learned to drive and he yelled “Get out of my way I’m a motorist!”

The taxis here are motorized, covered three wheel rickshaws that we blew past and we flew by a number a of people that were just out and about. India just finished their harvest festival which is similar to our Thanksgiving. Our hotel is across the street from the stadium where we’ll be training and coaching, which is convenient. Our rooms are small, much like a dorm than a hotel, the beds are thin and the bathrooms are, well, interesting. There’s a sink, toilet, shower head and faucet…but no tub. Or toilet paper…for now. We do however have a bucket and pitcher type thing that I’m guessing we use to dump water over our head to wash our hair. Saaaaaa-weet.

So in my first experience into being in a third world country, I can’t say it’s eye-opening, shocking, or anything. I had no expectations or pre-conceived notions. Just a blank slate to look at and experience. In a word it’s very humbling. You really don’t know how great you have it until you see things here. It’s a big city and driving through it’s a mixture of businesses stacked on top of each other and people stacked on top of each other in terms of living quarters. The streets aren’t the cleanest, and the buildings look like ones you would find in some of the lower income communities in the US. So right now it’s a bit after 5am and finishing up today’s entry and drinking some tea they brought up for us. We are getting up for breakfast at 7:15ish, then going to back to sleep for a little while to try and get as accustomed to the time change (+10.5 hours from the East Coast) as we can. It’s been a smooth trip so far and I’m looking forward to what the next few weeks bring us. Time for a quick nap. Good night from India.